5th Grade STEM Sub Plans | Full-Year Engineering Activities

Be prepared for unexpected absences with 12 complete, ready-to-use Grade 5 STEM and science lessons designed for substitute teachers, including those without a STEM background. Simply print, organize, and place them in a sub folder for quick access.

What’s Included

• 12 no-prep Grade 5 STEM and science lessons
• Word-for-word substitute scripts
• Minute-by-minute directions
• Materials lists
• Student recording pages
• Notes-back-to-teacher pages
• Predictions and testing
• Data collection and analysis
• Calculations and evidence-based conclusions
• Clear success criteria
• Early-finisher options
• Safety directions
• Emergency 10-minute STEM fillers
• Classroom information page
• STEM Sub Tub setup guidance

12 Emergency Lessons

1. Improving Is Not Optimising
2. Define the Real Problem
3. Four Ideas Before You Judge
4. Ratios, Not Differences
5. Conservation of Mass
6. Identify the Unknowns
7. The Energy Chain
8. Where Is Earth’s Water?
9. Gravity and Air Resistance
10. Distance and Brightness
11. Flowchart and Pseudocode Relay
12. Report It So Someone Can Act

Authentic Grade 5 STEM Thinking

Students practice:

• Defining problems and identifying unknowns
• Designing fair tests and controlling variables
• Conducting repeated trials
• Measuring and recording data
• Calculating ratios
• Analyzing graphs and patterns
• Evaluating trade-offs and competing solutions
• Investigating materials and properties
• Tracing energy systems
• Analyzing Earth’s water distribution
• Investigating gravity and air resistance
• Creating flowcharts and pseudocode
• Making evidence-based recommendations

For example, Improving Is Not Optimising asks students to test four structures, calculate load-to-mass ratios, and identify when additional material is no longer worthwhile. Ratios, Not Differences explores why ratios can provide more useful comparisons when designs differ in scale.

Identify the Unknowns uses measurable properties and a branching identification key, with a clear rule that materials are never tasted. Flowchart and Pseudocode Relay develops computational thinking by requiring students to write procedures that another pair can execute without verbal assistance.

Common Classroom Materials

No specialized STEM kit is required. Lessons use accessible materials such as paper, cardstock, tape, washers or coins, books, rulers, scales, graph paper, calculators, stopwatches, water, ice, paper towels, torches, paper clips, string, and construction materials.

A labeled STEM SUB TUB can be prepared in advance so commonly used supplies are ready whenever an emergency absence occurs.

Why It Works

The resource gives substitutes ready-to-read scripts, structured directions, testing procedures, student recording pages, data analysis, safety guidance, and clear finish lines. Teachers can prepare once and have a dependable collection of emergency STEM lessons available throughout the year.